Fangraphs had an interesting list posted on Friday in which they rank they players who recently lost their prospect status. Almost the entire list of 46 players are ones who exceeded rookie limits last year, with two exceptions. One of those exceptions is relevant to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Pirates acquired right-handed pitcher Joe Musgrove as one of the key pieces in the Gerrit Cole deal. That was after he put up a 4.77 ERA and 4.38 FIP in 109.1 innings for the Houston Astros in 2017. He made 15 starts and 23 relief appearances, posting a 1.33 WHIP and he struck out 98 batters.
Musgrove lost his prospect status late in 2016, going slightly over the innings limit, though he was still good on service time. Fangraphs included him on this list anyway because they believe he isn’t a finished product yet and he was a strong enough prospect before he lost his eligibility. Musgrove ranks 14th, which is the highest spot among the four Pirates on today’s list. Slightly contradicting their own reason for including him on the list, Fangraphs gave Musgrove a 55 Present Value (PV) ranking (using a 20-80 scale) and a 55 Future Value (FV) ranking.
Next up for the Pirates is Tyler Glasnow in the 23rd spot. This ranking is all about him reaching his potential upside, as his Present Value is just a 40, while they see him as a 50 FV. The Pirates were able to keep Glasnow under a year of service time, so he still has six seasons of control left. The other three players on this list have five seasons.
Josh Bell ranks 31st and it’s interesting to note that they only have him at a 40 PV, with a chance to reach a 50 FV at some point. Bell obviously had a better rookie season than Glasnow (and it wasn’t close), but Fangraphs still believes that Glasnow is the better prospect.
Finally, Trevor Williams rounds out the list for the Pirates in 42nd place. They have his PV and FV at 50, so they consider him more of a finished product than Bell or Glasnow. Williams had a 4.07 ERA and a 4.03 FIP in 150.1 innings last year for the Pirates. He had a 1.31 WHIP and 117 strikeouts in his 25 starts and six relief appearances.
Fangraphs has rated the Pirates well, putting five of them on their top 100 prospects list, eight on their KATOH list which projects WAR over their first six seasons in the majors, and now four players among their top 46 recent graduates.
